Once upon a time, there was a fair skinned girl with hair red as age-darkened cherries, who didn’t know blue was a shade that, on her, looked sweet and true.
…That girl is me, that realisation came a few years ago, and now thanks to Miss Candyfloss I’m fulfilling all kinds of fairy tale dreams I didn’t even have with this darling Bella dress, a vision made in blue.
Ardent admirers of Miss Candyfloss will no doubt recognise this dress from their Lookbook for this summer’s Fairytales collection. It was launched at the same time as an identically cut dress, the Mary-Beth dress, which comes in a green and grey tartan with bold black accents. At first I was drawn to the tartan iteration, before remembering that I’ve actually been meaning to add beige, brown and grey pieces to my wardrobe recently, which is sorely lacking said neutral tones. With that in mind, I paused briefly to envision a few different ways I might style the piece, then happily clicked the order button.
I was thinking the other day about the kinds of prints I love and why, and for some of them it boils down to something surprisingly simple: squares. My winter favourite, plaid, and my summer favourite, gingham, are both prints created by criss-crossing coloured lines to create squares of various sizes. As boring as that sounds, that description can also be applied to picnic blankets, and is there a single person out there who’s willing to say they hate picnics? If there is, there shouldn’t be.
This Lindy Bop Claudine dress makes me think of picnics, and buttercups, and being a bit too excited to be able to bust out one’s sunglasses for the first time this season because the sun, and even some warmth, are finally here. Let’s soak it all in!
The feel of spring is finally starting to creep in, and not a moment too soon! I am ready for that fresh, clean scent to the air that only comes when the sky is clear and the flowers are beginning to bloom. Sure, I could stand to hold off longer on it being time to return to mowing the lawn once a week, but for sunshine, daffodils and warmer days, I’ll accept that seasonal trade. Now we can bust out our floral prints in earnest, no matter what Miranda Priestly might think, and this new Hell Bunny offering is a beautiful example.
If I were to ask you what prints scream summer to you, what would your answer be? I’m willing to bet that gingham and florals would both be in the top 3 replies. Well looky here, because this Golightly dress from Unique Vintage serves up both!
If you read my recent review of Miss Candyfloss’s Arista dress you’ll know that while their new spring/summer collection may be Disney Princess inspired it still has plenty of simpler, timeless options for those of us who find the idea of Princess styles a bit too twee and girlish for our tastes. This Aemela-Ivy dress and the Cloebella coat are both lovely examples of items that will appeal to ladies who aren’t looking for bows or butterflies.
I may not personally be a huge Disney fan, but I wanted to pay homage to Miss Candyfloss’s inspiration for this range, so let’s travel together into the woods now in an ode to fairytales, just watch out for the roses’ thorns…
Collectif’s Nova dress was, it is safe to say, one of the biggest hits of their spring/summer line last year. It featured thin pastel rainbow stripes and sold out quickly. At the time I remember eyeing the cut and style of the dress shape with great interest, but as I’m not much of a pastel girl it wasn’t for me. I was very pleased, therefore, to receive their SS19 catalogue and to find that a red and white striped version was coming this season. Well, it’s here, it’s cut is all I had hoped for, and it’s ready to rock your boat (pun intended.)
You may recognise this print from my review several weeks ago of the Hell Bunny Antonia dress. For that post I highlighted how well the print works for a moody, winter styling. I love said print so much that I couldn’t help but snap up the skirt version as well, but for its review I wanted to wait until we were approaching spring to show you how well this print could be styled for sunshine and warmth too. Sure the background is black, the roses rich and red, but there’s nothing about spring that says decadence and elegance must be forsaken for lighter, sweeter florals. Antonia really is ready to be worn year round.
It feels a long way off right now, but for a minute let’s just pretend it’s summer, okay? Close your eyes–picture a blue sky with nary a cloud in sight, the sun warm on your skin. The air smells fresh, clean, pure. The condensation beading on the outside of your ice cold drink slides slowly down the glass…And what are you wearing? Chic, timeless, pure white. Specifically, this Devon dress by Unique Vintage, and damn would it make summer look good.
Give me olive accessories or give me…well, not quite death, that’s rather dramatic, but you know, a very mild punishment that proves how much I like the colour olive, okay? Like…a really inopportune power cut right as I’m about to settle down to watch that movie on Netflix that I’ve been looking forward to for ages. Yeah? So, give me olive accessories or give me a really–okay, you know what, you get the point, let’s just look at the damn shoes!
